If your bishops have issued letters, send me the links and I shall publish them here.

Sadly, at the Sunday Mass I attended, the priest chose to be silent on this issue. In some other parishes, this letter was promulgated.

"The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage saddens us. To make something legal does not mean that it is true or good. Take, for example, the ruling that legalized abortion.

"Notwithstanding this ruling, we will continue to lead people to live under the Gospel, which requires us to be humble and loving to all others, regardless.

"The Gospel also compels us to defend and share with others Jesus’ teaching on marriage, which re-asserted the original plan of creation, and which no one can rend asunder:

"One man and one woman who freely give themselves to each other in a permanent and exclusive partnership, to be helpmates for each other, and to be open to conceiving and bringing up children.

"We believe that this understanding of marriage does no harm; on the contrary, it serves the common good of society, as well as the good of family life, and of children.

"We still expect that true religious liberty, enshrined in our Constitution, and won at such a dear price, will be honored, allowing us to be guided by a faith-formed conscience in our teaching and practice."

Most Rev. Michael Jackels, Archbishop of Dubuque

Most Rev. Martin Amos, Bishop of Davenport

Most Rev. Richard Pates, Bishop of Des Moines

Most Rev. R. Walker Nickless, Bishop of Sioux Cityand an excellent reminder on Fr. Z of the Vatican take on this issue--nothing has changed.I shall be celebrating July 4th by having a day of mortification; fasting and prayer for this country. Do you want to join me?

Not to preach the Gospel would be my undoing, for Christ himself sent me as his apostle and witness. The more remote, the more difficult the assignment, the more my love of God spurs me on. I am bound to proclaim that Jesus is Christ, the Son of the living God. Because of him we come to know the God we cannot see. He is the firstborn of all creation; in him all things find their being. Man’s teacher and redeemer, he was born for us, died for us, and for us he rose from the dead.

All things, all history converges in Christ. A man of sorrow and hope, he knows us and loves us. As our friend he stays by us throughout our lives; at the end of time he will come to be our judge; but we also know that he will be the complete fulfilment of our lives and our great happiness for all eternity.

I can never cease to speak of Christ for he is our truth and our light; he is the way, the truth and the life. He is our bread, our source of living water who allays our hunger and satisfies our thirst. He is our shepherd, our leader, our ideal, our comforter and our brother.

He is like us but more perfectly human, simple, poor, humble, and yet, while burdened with work, he is more patient. He spoke on our behalf; he worked miracles; and he founded a new kingdom: in it the poor are happy; peace is the foundation of a life in common; where the pure of heart and those who mourn are uplifted and comforted; the hungry find justice; sinners are forgiven; and all discover that they are brothers.

The image I present to you is the image of Jesus Christ. As Christians you share his name; he has already made most of you his own. So once again I repeat his name to you Christians and I proclaim to all men: Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega, Lord of the new universe, the great hidden key to human history and the part we play in it. He is the mediator – the bridge, if you will – between heaven and earth. Above all he is the Son of man, more perfect than any man, being also the Son of God, eternal and infinite. He is the son of Mary his mother on earth, more blessed than any woman. She is also our mother in the spiritual communion of the mystical body.

Remember: it is Jesus Christ I preach day in and day out. His name I would see echo and re-echo for all time even to the ends of the earth.

When one realizes that freedom of religion and freedom of speech are coming to an end. one must decide on various options to living in a pagan culture.

My option is contemplative prayer. As I have noted in the past several years, without prayer, action is not only ineffective, but, as it is connected to the ego, possibly selfish and, therefore, sinful.

I concentrate my prayers on those who need these the most, but the focus is on priests, bishops, cardinals, the Pope, seminarians.

We have too many mediocre clergymen and not enough heroes.

If God allows this house of prayer to come about, and there is a good start in the campaign, the option to pray will become a reality.

I am beginning to ask women I know who are single to consider joining me. But, the great American dilemma is the love of individuality.

America and England have people who are not inclined to community.

The French are so much better at this. Look at theFoyers de Charitébegun by the mystic, Venerable Marthe Robin. For years, some priests have wanted to help start lay communities in England based on her idea, communities like the ones in France. No success. There are 75 communities of the Foyers in 44 countries. None in England.The Anglo-Saxon love of individuality and privacy, which is so obvious in the culture of America as well, causes people not to want to start or join communities.I am more open than most because I lived in communities, two different types, already.I pray for one more person to share the vision of adoration and intercessory prayer.God is in charge.

In my twenties, I read these words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and took them to heart. The Cost of Discipleship was one of my favorite books in the early 1970s. For over ten years, I carried Letters and Papers from Prison with me when I moved as the book reminded me of my call as a Catholic in the world.

Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession...Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

...costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. It is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."

We are living in times of decision. We are not the first generations to do so. The lives of the saints bear witness to times of decision.

Already, I know many families who are being divided by this new ruling on ssm.

One can only stand firm and stay with the Church and Christ on this issue, despite pain.

Christ warned up of these times:

Religious belief has not been costly for some until now. In a secular society, one has to make choices. In a pagan society, it may actually be easier to stand up for the truth, as the truth shines more brightly.

We shall be forced to decide between cheap and costly grace.

Matthew 10:32-42Douay-Rheims

32 Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven.

33 But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.

34 Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.

35 For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man's enemies shall be they of his own household.

37 He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it.

40 He that receiveth you, receiveth me: and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me.

41 He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive the reward of a prophet: and he that receiveth a just man in the name of a just man, shall receive the reward of a just man.

42 And whosoever shall give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

Father, one thing which has not been discussed is the gross silence of the clergy from the pulpit. Father, thank you so much for allowing us to discuss these issues online. Priests in parishes give no opportunity for discussing these serious issues, so the laity remained both ignorant and confused.

Leon Bloy

Guild of Blessed Titus Brandsma

The Church Must Not Be Defensive

click here

Too many Church leaders do not think, or do not think as Catholics

click here

GUILD PRAYER

God our Father, source of life and freedom, through Your Holy Spirit you gave the Carmelite, Titus Brandsma the courage to affirm human dignity even in the midst of suffering and degrading persecution.

Grant us that same spirit so that, in refusing all compromise with error we may always and everywhere give coherent witness to Your abiding presence among us.